For the heart - Chapter 45

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 45

 

Nina immediately knew where his sigh had come from.

 

It was the portrait hanging on the wall that Casian’s candle had slowly passed by in the darkness.

 

“How is this…”

 

Nina approached the enormous frame that was large enough to cover almost the entire wall and slowly illuminated the figures in the painting with the candle she was holding.

 

The two people in the painting were wearing splendid wedding attire.

 

The woman was depicted wearing a crown crafted from platinum over ceremonial robes of deep blue that symbolized Hamer.

 

The color was as subtle as if the line where sea and sky meet had been transplanted there, and her beauty was so dazzling it took one’s breath away even though it was just a painting.

 

The man standing beside her wore a golden embroidered cloak over pure white ceremonial robes, firmly holding the woman’s hand.

 

His silver hair filled with radiance and golden eyes lived intensely even on the canvas, and in his hand was held a sword with its blade pointing downward.

 

The posture of holding the sword downward meant withdrawing power and the emperor’s oath of kneeling before love.

 

Nina stared at the painting for a long time, forgetting to speak.

 

The woman in the dazzlingly blue ceremonial robes, the man in white, strangely did not seem unfamiliar.

 

As if she had met those gazes somewhere long ago.

 

Nina’s gaze, which could not look away from the two people, turned to the sword the man was holding.

 

Then Nina, holding her breath, traced the sword’s appearance with her fingertips.

 

The pattern engraved on the blade, the wave-shaped fuller carved in the center of the blade, even the jewel embedded in the cross guard.

 

No matter how she looked at it, it was the same as her own sword.

 

Nina raised her head again to look at the face of Hamer’s princess, Ernesa Hamer, revealed in the candlelight.

 

“Why…”

 

Just before death, she had thought that King Hamer’s blue eyes looking up at her resembled her own eyes.

 

Ernesa Hamer’s eyes in the painting also looked exactly like hers.

 

Her bright golden hair that seemed to hold sunlight too.

 

No, the woman in the painting had a face so similar to Nina’s that one could believe it was Nina herself with long hair.

 

“Ah… Ernesa… This inadequate brother ultimately failed to protect both you and your daughter before leaving…”

 

King Hamer’s last words that had never left her mind echoed once more, shaking Nina.

 

“Why am I… I am…”

 

“Your Highness.”

 

Nina ended up dropping the candle she was holding to the floor with a thud.

 

When the candle that had been illuminating the darkness went out, thick darkness immediately fell where Nina was standing.

 

Only the candle Casian was holding barely emitted a faint light.

 

Casian quickly embraced Nina with one arm as she was about to collapse, supporting her.

 

Nina grasped that arm and let her head fall weakly against his chest.

 

“Who… exactly am I…?”

 

Was she not one of the twins born to Rainer Arsed and Catalina Arsed?

 

Casian could not say anything and just wrapped his arms around Nina’s shoulders.

 

The candle flickered, stretching the shadows on the wall long.

 

Nina gasped for breath as if she were someone who had walked out of that painting.

 

Instead of her heart beating, her head pounded noisily.

 

The familiar faces, unfamiliar bloodline, and the images of Rainer and Catalina who had been so cold to her interlocked like broken pieces, approaching as one truth.

 

‘Are my parents the Former Emperor and Former Empress…?’

 

Nina’s eyes shook violently.

 

“Are you alright?”

 

“…Do you think… I resemble them too?”

 

Casian lifted his eyes that had been looking down at Nina to look at the painting again. Then he slowly nodded.

 

“It seems Your Highness is likely the daughter of Arsed’s Former Emperor and Former Empress. The sword too, and you especially resemble the Former Empress too much.”

 

What was the truth – everything was confusing.

 

In her blank mind, the memories she had believed in and the truth she had just heard collided as if pushing each other away.

 

With the sensation of the ground beneath her feet caving in, Nina could not even breathe properly.

 

“You people made my sister Ernesa into a murderer who killed the emperor, and not content with that, made her into an immoral woman who committed adultery.”

 

“Just know that if the last oracle is revealed to be false, everything we’ve worked for over the past 20 years will all be finished.”

 

The words spoken by King of Hamer Arveon Hamer and the words Empress Catalina Arsed had secretly exchanged with Desmorak tangled wildly in Nina’s ears.

 

It was exactly 20 years since the Former Emperor and Former Empress had died.

 

The period Emperor Rainer and Empress Catalina had been working hard was also 20 years.

 

Since she turned twenty this year, it had also been 20 years since she lost her heart.

 

‘Something the world doesn’t know definitely happened 20 years ago. I need to find out what it was.’

 

* * *

 

Nina and Casian, who had found the national seal in King Hamer’s bedroom, headed toward Arsed.

 

Just as they had marched to conquer the Six Small Nations, they planned to cross through the Blanche Duchy territory on their return as well.

 

A faint crescent moon revealed itself in the darkening sky.

 

The sound of hooves striking rock echoed lowly along the rough path.

 

“Did you not know that Your Highness’s sword belonged to the Former Emperor?”

 

“I didn’t know. My master gave it to me. After giving me this sword, he suddenly disappeared. Perhaps… he went into hiding.”

 

On the day Master Tark Dagnir handed her the sword, Nina immediately infused her ability into the sword as soon as she grasped it on the spot.

 

Though Nina had been growing by leaps and bounds, that sword made her not just strong but overwhelmingly dangerous beyond strength.

 

The sword and Nina moved as one body as if drawing each other in.

 

Tark sighed at that sight, and Emperor Rainer flew into a rage.

 

His face instantly turned ashen white, then immediately reddened as if blood was surging up as he glared at Tark as if he would kill him.

 

Thinking about it now, he might have been greatly flustered at that time.

 

“Back then… I thought my master was angry because he had given me something too precious. In the end, His Majesty the Emperor let me use this sword that’s like wings to me. Because he wanted me to become an overwhelming weapon of war.”

 

Casian, who had been listening to Nina’s words, spoke in a quiet voice.

 

“There are many things to find. The Saint, your master, and Your Highness’s heart as well.”

 

Nina only nodded at Casian’s words, as if he were listing the things she needed to find.

 

Would she be able to find them all?

 

Somehow feeling overwhelmed, a deep sigh escaped her.

 

Meanwhile, the horses’ breathing was becoming labored.

 

The path chosen for a quick return to the palace was steep and treacherous. To the right was a thousand-foot cliff that made one feel dizzy.

 

As the path narrowed, Casian made Nina’s horse walk on the inside while he rode on the outside.

 

“Now if we find them one by one,”

 

Casian, who had been speaking to Nina, suddenly whipped his head up to look toward the forest.

 

“Damn it!”

 

Casian struck the rump of Nina’s horse hard with his hand and shouted.

 

“Run no matter what! It’s an ambush!”

 

Swoosh! Swish swish!

 

The sound of hidden ambushers firing dozens of arrows shook the quiet forest.

 

Following the sound of Nina’s and Casian’s horses kicking off the ground and galloping, arrows flew one after another.

 

When the two horses were almost on the same line.

 

Swish swish—!

 

“Ugh—!”

 

“Casian!”

 

Three arrows flew in succession and lodged in Casian’s chest.

 

Casian, his eyes wide, shouted to Nina.

 

“Don’t look back and just run!”

 

But the arrows weren’t targeting Nina—they were pouring down precisely on Casian.

 

Swoosh—! Swish swish—!

 

“Kugh!”

 

With two more arrows lodged in him, Casian’s body swayed and collapsed, falling from his horse.

 

As if waiting for that moment, dozens of arrows began pouring down on him now that he was completely exposed.

 

Seeing this, Nina threw herself from her horse without hesitation and embraced Casian, and the two fell down the cliff together.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————